Deal to supply 'drought-proof' water source finalized

Lubbock and 11 other cities to get 200,000 surface acres of water

In a deal 11 years in the making to bring water to Lubbock and other South Plains cities, more than 200,000 acres of water was finally secured Thursday morning in Amarillo.

The Canadian River Municipal Water Authority closed a $103 million deal with Mesa Water, giving the region 211,217 surface acres of water for consumption.

The water rights were owned by Mesa Water and billionaire T. Boone Pickens.

Kent Satterwhite, general manager of the water authority, said the deal was attractive to the authority because the water is drought resistant.

“It means a source of water for the next 100, 200 or 300 years,” Satterwhite said in a phone interview. “It just means a good, dependable source of water — a drought-proof source of water.”

The worst recorded drought in Texas history left one of the region’s primary water supplies, Lake Meredith, severely depleted.

Satterwhite said the water authority’s board will meet in January to further discuss a time frame for getting the water to the cities, but much will depend on the status of Lake Meredith, one of the main suppliers of the 11 cities, including Lubbock

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Glad to see Lubbock is doing something right for a change. When will the City Council figure that if you have all the water you need but your crime rate is the highest of any city in the nation, they will not come to Lubbock.

The Washington Post recently reported that Washington DC is the fastest growing city in the nation. It was losing population because of it's reputation of crime but the City Council there has addressed it, resulting in biggest jump in population which increases your tax base.
Their City Council has the attitude we need in here in Lubbock Texas!

Where is the guarantee? The guarantee for 100 years? Lubbock seems to have spent 33 million dollars on what?

Who made this deal is all I am asking and what do you get. Who looked beneath the earth (WITH GREAT CERTAINTY!) with some form of superman power to see all this water and its 100 - 300 year source.

MESA Water, or T. Boone Pickens just made out like bandits and we are talking about taxing farmers for their water use. Farmers grow many agricultural products for the benefit of the people and T. Boone Pickens does not. Yet the farmer gets taxed, while Pickens gets an 88 million dollar payoff.